Baru's book effect: BJP's posers for PM, Sonia

NEW DELHI: BJP on Saturday made a five-point poser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi questioning them whether Cabinet files were shared with Gandhi and if Singh forfeited his prerogative to decide his cabinet as per disclosures in a book by a PM's former adviser.

BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman questioned Sonia Gandhi if cabinet files were shared with her as mentioned in the book and if there was a deal on Siachen by Gandhi along with Gen J J Singh, the former Army chief.

Posing a question to Manmohan Singh, she said "did the PM refuse to take daily briefings from intelligence agencies and did this not have a bearing on our security situation?"

"Did the PM forfeit his prerogative to decide on who would be in his cabinet? Was the '2G fame' A Raja appointed at the behest of Sonia Gandhi?

Did the PM knowingly overlook corruption by his colleagues as alleged in the book. Did 2G, CWG and Coalgate happened because of this?," Sitharaman said.

"BJP draws the attention of Congress party to introspect on these issues. They need to answer the people of India on their failures in the past decades. The questions raised relate to failure to control prices, provide jobs, manage the economy. A constructive and issue-based political discourse is the need of the hour. People of India need an answer from Congress, she said.

The posers came in the wake of claims in the book "The Accidental Prime Minister: The Making and Unmaking of Manmohan Singh" written by the former PM's media adviser Sanjaya Baru who served in that capacity during UPA-1.